A recent USA Today article brings to light the growing trend of referring to food products as “artisan, ” with the number of “artisan” products in store shelves having doubled in the last four years. The word “artisan” implies that a product has been created with care by a craftsperson, yet these seem to be mass-marketed and -produced products. (Nevermind the fact that the  ”artisan” refers to to craftsperson, while “artisanal” refers to the product itself.)

Now, when a company sub-brands its product as “artisan,” as is the case with Tostitos chips or Domino’s Pizza, what does that say about the rest of their products? Seems to me that the flip-side to going up-market with a sub-brand is that you’re admitting some sort of deficiency in the rest of your products. At the very least, it raises questions…

- Are “regular” Tostitos not as tasty as their “artisan” counterparts?  
- If my “artisinal” Domino’s pizza is hand-crafted, what about the rest of their pizzas? 

Like “organic” and “natural” before it, “artisan”seems to be the next ill-defined food buzzword.

• Two sides of an argument/book review about the value of unpaid internships in the modern workforce
• Compelling infographics on voice recognition applications, inspired by the launch of the iPhone 4S
• Scott Adams (Dilbert) on creativity, and the stifling thereof
• A press release for an academic article on learning while sleeping
• We’ve posted several entries about publishers moving content online, but here are some folks who are moving in the opposite direction
• On confidence
• The End of the Future
• “Creative Class” around the globe
• There is no evidence supporting auditory and visual learning…(some psychologists say…)
• The back story on Lorem Ipsum
• Tumblr on the up and up

OnTheMap is useful for more than work location, however.  It’s a multi-layered mapping tool, with companion data on demographics, earnings, industry characteristics.  We’ve also used it to identify exact metropolitan statistical areas and radius ranges, to find transportation routes, greenspace, and tribal and military lands, and to simply better understand a physical marketplace.

For years, organizations like the Census Bureau relied heavily on point-in-time estimates, tables of statistics and physical and static maps for data exploration like this. As new systems come online, are developed further, and improved over successive versions, our ability to access information from our desktops is not only facilitated but empowered.

Today, the mark of a celebrity chef seems to be more about their branded merchandise than their restaurants. As more and more consumers turn to celebrity chefs not only for recipes, but for nutritional and lifestyle information as well, their credibility and brand equity continues to grow. The secret ingredient in the celebrity chef recipe however, is personality. Each chef has a signature style that sets them apart, from the “Domestic Goddess” Nigella Lawson to the hot-tempered Rocco Dispirito. The identities they create are often more important than the food they cook. Take for example, The Food Network’s series, The Next Food Network Star. The candidates are hardly professional chefs, and many are self-taught. Instead of culinary expertise, they compete for their own cooking show based on their unique personality and point of view.

“Celebrity” is no longer an adequate term for these culinary moguls. Their new name is “super chef”. Just look at “Naked Chef” Jamie Oliver’s empire. His show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, aims to educate kids and parents about healthy eating. He also has five restaurants, fourteen cookbooks, and an entire collection of products ranging from cookware and tableware to product lines including spices, meats, and everything in between. He even endorses his own line of wood fired ovens. Food critics are bothered by the lack of time these chefs actually spend in the kitchen, but fanatic followers clearly could care less, myself included. I’ve been coveting Giada de Laurentiis’ Target cookware line for weeks. Now, not only can I watch my favorite celebrity chef’s show, but I can emulate her in the kitchen as well. According to Nielsen, celebrity chef branded products and restaurant sales increased 12.6% in 2010. Additionally, cookbook sales rose by 5% in 2010, despite a 4% decline in total book sales. By defining not only their culinary style, but personality, charm, and authority, these chefs have risen to the status of movie stars and athletes. Forget Brad Pitt, I’ll take Bobby Flay any day.

1. iPad
2. chatroulette
3. iPhone4
4. World Cup
5. Justin Bieber

You can find additional trends for rising and falling terms across news, image, maps, etc. here.

Interesting little infographic from Newsweek about the differences between books and e-books.

After nearly 70 years, publisher Condé Nast abruptly stopped production of the monthly magazine due to lack of advertising sales and a shift in consumer interest. At the time of Condé Nast’s decision, both Gourmet and its sister magazine, Bon Appétit, were struggling with ad sales. Bon Appétit made the cut. Gourmet didn’t. Bon Appétit was offered as a substitute for Gourmet for the remainder of almost one million subscriptions.

Since then a slight margin (a slim 20 percent to be exact) of past Gourmet subscribers have chosen to switch to Bon Appétit. This seems odd for such highly dedicated and long-term subscribers. The lack of transferred subscriptions poses a hard question. Why did Condé Nast choose not to research the niche market of such an obviously successful magazine like Gourmet in order to keep those dedicated subscribers?

On the cover, the magazines look similar. Both share great recipes. Both feature articles about food, culture, and politics. However, the audiences of each magazine differ greatly. This is evidenced through both magazines advertisements as well as their contrasting takes on good living. Gourmet was luxurious and indulgent. It stressed extravagant travel and an elitist lifestyle. Bon Appétit stresses a comfortable home life, centering on family cooking. It offered complex, yet more accessible recipes.

While many Gourmet readers feel heartbroken about no longer receiving the magazine each month, Condé Nast’s decision makes good sense, especially when considering the economic forecast that sunk Gourmet. Foodies aren’t paying for exotic trips to experience food anymore. They’re cooking at home with their families, growing their own gardens, or buying local food.  Despite a large fan base, Gourmet’s attention to life’s luxuries and hefty subscription fees failed to keep advertisers interested. In the case of Gourmet and many other magazines, ad money trumps readership and loyalty.

But after loosing 800,000 subscribers, it seems that Condé Nast missed a really great chance to study their Gourmet readers. The magazine may have been out-of-touch with the current economic reality, but its subscribers were still writing checks every year. If Condé Nast saw the end of Gourmet magazine in sight, why not find out what it was that appealed to readers and kept some subscribing for decades. That sort of insight would have been exactly what Condé Nast could have used to align Bon Appétit toward the views and preferences of Gourmet’s readers in order to boost the number of subscription transfers and keep those loyal consumers.

Click through and around to assess your home’s energy usage:

As a researcher and a cyclist, I was doubly interested in this Slate article about the absence of fixed-gear, or fixie, bicycles in China. (For those of you not familiar with the hipster fixie trend, here’s a quick primer.) While the article is ostensibly about this one product in this one country, it makes a larger point about trends and cultural context.

What is “cool” and “trendy” to one audience can be “weird” and “useless” to another. And this is not just true when comparing Brooklyn and Beijing. In research, subtle differences in demography can have huge effects on the perceptions of a product. Considering the cultural context in which we operate is always key.

Even the ‘screw it all’ attitude of British punk rock had a business element to it, money was to be made. And no one was more aware of this, and arguably more important in developing, packaging, and selling punk to the world media than Malcolm McLaren. Malcolm died yesterday of cancer at age 64.

Malcolm was the original “cool hunter” for no one could sniff out a trend more effectvely. I can’t even begin to account for the ripple effect he’s had on today’s world of music, fashion, advertising, and general culture.  Like the name of the company his son founded, Malcolm was an Agent Provocateur.

God rest his provocative soul, for the business world could sure use a few more Malcolms and a heck of a lot less of everyone else…

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter (and others) can help brands integrate with their users, customers, etc., on a continual basis. It gives them the opportunity to combine websites and related audio/video content to their brands, connecting users to each other as well as to the brands. In return they’ll share your interests with their networks. It sounds logical and obvious, and it is.

Another idea brought up in the article is a push for more online stores on social networks (something that makes a lot of sense to me).  If people know exactly what they want and can get it online, they will. It saves them time and money.

I also believe that a brand (digital or not) must follow the social media scene in order to survive. If you’re not always engaging with your audience online through interesting and compelling stories, the risk will be that your competitor does. The social media geeks seem to get it while many brands don’t. What do you think? Read the full article, here.